Vegemite

Chris has never tried Vegemite. And since we've been in Australia for over 9 months, I figured it was about time he tried it. And since Vegemite is as Australian as you can get, I thought it would make a great blog post. But instead of writing about the experience, I'll let the pictures tell the story!

Concentrated Yeast Extract - rich in Vitamin B and Folate

A little apprehensive and probably annoyed that I'm making him do this.

The first (and only) bite.

Not enjoying the Vegemite experience

'What did you make me eat?'

'Don't make me finish it!'

Flood Update

It was announced this afternoon that Brisbane is facing its worst flood since 1974. The river is going to peak around 5m, possibly making it worse flood than 1974. Many suburbs are being evacuated.

The rain let up for a bit this afternoon, so we decided to go to the shops to grab some water and canned goods, just in case. We took some pictures of the road near our apartment and the parking lot at the shopping centre. Both are flooded already.

The 'creek'. To the right is a bike path that is completely under water. The train to the airport runs on the overpass you see in the picture.

The parking lot at our local shopping centre. The small hedge that is under water is where the parking lot is. We usually walk under the overpass to get to the shopping centre. The tree to the left of the McDonalds sign is along the now flooded bike path.

From the shopping centre, looking towards our road. The 'Keep Left' sign is probably about 4 feet high. The orange/yellow barriers in the middle of the picture are one street away from ours.

Same as picture above, but looking from our road towards the shopping centre. This road has flooded twice since October, but by far this is the worst yet. The underpass is completely under water.

Water in the underpass.

Flooding

For the past couple weeks we've been watching on tv about all the flooding in Rockhampton and areas about 700km north of Brisbane. But, in the last few days the flooding has been getting closer and closer to Brisbane.

Yesterday, there was a flash flood in Toowooomba (about 120km west of Brisbane). An 8m wall of water came rushing into the city without warning. 2 people died and 72 are still missing. It's absolutely devastating in Toowoomba. There is debris everywhere: cars piled on top of each other like toys, furniture in the streets.

Now, the floods are affecting Brisbane. The river broke its banks in the CBD and people are being told to evacuate and get to higher ground. There are 32 neighbourhoods on flood watch. The last time Brisbane flooded was in 1974, when 6700 houses were flooded. They expect this flood crisis to possibly be as damaging. It all depends if the Wivenhoe dam can contain the water.

And with all of this, the rain is still pouring down.

Chris and I ventured out this morning to check out how our neighbourhood is faring. There's a lot of water flowing down the streets, and a lot of water falling from the sky. I hope the rain stops soon.

Laundry

Yes, this post is dedicated to laundry.

We don't know anyone in Australia who owns a dryer. Granted, we don't know that many people, but I don't think I'm too far off in saying that dryers are rare here. And really, they should be. When you live in the Sunshine State, you shouldn't need one!

I really love hanging laundry outside to dry. There is something so wonderfully simple as putting your clothes on the line to dry in the sunshine and breeze. Yes, it's a bit of a pain when it's been raining for a week and you have to hang your clothes inside in order to get dry, but on those gorgeous sunny days, when there's a lovely breeze in the air, I love to wash clothes. I know, it sounds crazy, but it's almost like a novelty for us.

Even though you would never dream of hanging clothes outside to dry in an Edmonton winter, I don't think enough people do it in the summer. We are so spoiled by our dryers that we forget the best, most energy efficient, way of drying our clothes is that bright yellow thing in the sky. I know, your clothes don't end up as soft as they would if you tumbled them in a dryer for 40 minutes, but you get over it pretty fast. I think we'll definitely be making more of an effort to take advantage of the Earth's dryer when we get back home!

I know this post is a bit random, but I think that this is a part of Australian life I will always remember. Thirty years from now, when I'm throwing wet clothes into a dryer in the middle of winter, I'll remember the days when we would hang our wet clothes on the line in the bright Aussie sun to dry. 

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone! We hope that you have recovered nicely from your holiday feasts! We had a very nice Aussie Christmas, even though our plans didn't go as...well...planned.

Back in October, we had booked a place in Lennox Head, NSW (near Byron Bay) for 4 days of Christmas relaxing. Unfortunately, mother nature has not been kind to Queensland and parts of NSW, and the forecast for the Christmas holidays was nothing but rain. So, we decided to cancel our Christmas trip to the beach. No point in going if you'll be stuck in a hostel the entire time!

Instead, we made ourselves a great holiday at our apartment. On Christmas eve, we decided to head to the shops to do just a bit of Xmas shopping for each other. With a $50 limit, it was a bit challenging to find presents, but we managed! That night, we made a delicious roast chicken, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, and veggies. It was quite a delicious Christmas Even dinner!

On Christmas day, with the rain pouring down, we made ourselves a delicious brekkie and then opened our presents to each other. Chris got me a photography book, a puzzle book, and some chocolates (they didn't last long!). I got him a pencil case for his drawing pencils, a MasterChef cookbook, a magazine, and some playing cards. We spent our day lazily watching movies, reading, and enjoying our Aussie Christmas. All in all, it was a great day!

The rest of the week was filled with pretty much of the same. The rain didn't stop pouring for an entire week, and sadly now many places in Queensland are flooded.

We hope that you had a wonderful Christmas with your loved ones and that 2011 will be a healthy and happy year!